Grey's Anatomy: From Here to Eternity
by js0718
Summary: Why is Dr. Stark so mean? Maybe he's just misunderstood. Like what Dr. Kepner has said, "there is a nice guy under there..." A story about Dr. Stark. He may be one of the most hated doctors in Seattle Grace, but there is more to him than you might think.
1. We're Friends

I like Dr. Stark, okay... He seems like a nice guy. I'm one of the few people that actually support Stark & Kepner. From 7x17, he told April how he really felt, "I wanted to be more than your friend." I felt so bad for the guy, didn't you?

Well I'm not that great of a writer. This is my first fan fic so... be nice (?) :)

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><p><span>FROM HERE TO ETERNITY<span>

1.

That moment kept replaying in his head like a broken record. "… I just think of you more as a friend. Friends, you know, we're friends." That is one of the daunting things a woman could ever say to a man. As he was driving home that night, Robert tried to drown out that thought by playing the radio; but much to his amazement, James Taylor's song, _Smiling Face_ began to play. He immediately turned it off and let out a disgruntled sigh. "I took a chance, now look at me," he said to himself.

When he got home, he went straight to his office and put down his briefcase. Making his way to the kitchen, he could hear nothing, but the sound of his footsteps as they hit the hard wood floor. Silence, that's what he is greeted with every night when he comes home from work. With a glass of red wine in hand, he was going to watch "_From Here to Eternity,_" like they planned; but instead, he ended up looking through several photo albums. Reminiscing at the time when he had Judy, his wife for five years, he couldn't help but cry at the thought of what could have been. Two years ago, if only he took off for that day and went furniture shopping with her for their soon-to-be son, he wouldn't be by himself tonight. After flipping through memory lane and thinking about the possibilities, he went to bed, hoping for a better day.


	2. I Know How You Feel

2.

Like every typical morning, Robert gets up at 6:30 to get ready for work. Judy was usually the one preparing his clothes and making him breakfast. Nowadays, he just picks out the first dress shirt he sees, pour a cup of coffee, and rush out the door with a bagel in his mouth. Walking in Seattle Grace, he cautiously makes his way to his office, hoping not to run into April.

"The Chief is calling all attendings to the ER entrance," a nurse said. "Why, is there another shooting?" "No, Dr. Torres and Robbins got into an accident. Torres is in critical condition."

As he makes his way to the ER, he sees April coming from the opposite direction. Without greeting her, he approached Chief Webber. "Chief, it looks like you have all the staff working on Torres' case, and I do have patients that need my attention, so..." The chief took a moment to think about it, "Okay, but do you need any help?" "No, I'm fine, I'll have a few nurses with me," Robert replied as he walked away.

Karev felt the tension in the air. "Hey, Kepner, what was that about? Your date didn't end well last night?" "There was no date last night." "What happened to 'From Here to Eternity'?" asked Karev. "Can we not talk about this right now?" replied April, annoyed with Karev's questions, she walked away. "She watched 'From Here to Eternity' by herself last night," Lexie informed Karev. Karev humbly looked down and said, "Oh."

April went to Robert's office. "Is everything okay with you? I feel like you're avoiding me."

"Dr. Kepner, I'm fine. No need to worry about me, and I'm not avoiding you. Don't you need to be with the other doctors prepping for Torres' surgery? "

"Yeah, but-" Robert cut her off. "Well, I have a patient waiting for me. "

Robert entered the patient's room and informed his parents about his condition. "Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez, your son is going to be okay. His vitals are fine, but I just want to keep him here until tomorrow so we can monitor him." The boy's parents let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Dr. Stark"

"No problem. You'll be back playing baseball in no time, buddy," he said comforting the boy. Robert smiled as he makes his way back to the desk.

It's been a hectic day for everyone, especially for Mark and Arizona. They faced the possibility of losing Callie and the baby, maybe even both. He overheard them arguing about the situation.

"I know the risks!" Mark said to Arizona.

"No, do you? Because you're acting like you don't care about the baby." Arizona argued.

"I'm thinking about Callie. You don't think I care? This is my baby! You never wanted this. You never asked for this. Why the hell are you giving us your opinion on what you feel?" said Mark.

"You know what I didn't ask for, I didn't ask for you, Mark. Because you know what you are, you're basically a sperm donor. I mean, this is me and this is Callie, and we're together, so I say-"

"No! You don't get a say! This is my family, I'm the father! I'm the father! You're not anything, you're nothing." Mark responded.

Arizona was speechless. She couldn't face Mark after that statement, so she just ran in the observation room. Robert knew exactly what she was feeling. Putting down the surgical reports, he followed Arizona in the room. He found her in tears, but as soon as she realized he walked in the room, she quickly brushed the tears off her face.

"Hey, how're you holding up?" She didn't reply. "I know exactly how you feel."

"Do you, Dr. Stark? Did you have two loved ones fighting for their lives and all you just did is sit there without a clue on how to help them?" Tears began to fall from her face again.

"Yes, actually I have. And I've lost both of them, and I think about them every day, and I think about the fact that I did not do a single damn thing. I had a family, and I couldn't even keep it together." Arizona didn't know how to respond.

"I know everyone in this hospital think I'm a heartless bastard, but I don't give a damn."

"Who were they?"

"My wife Judy; she was 7 months pregnant with our son. They were in a car accident… all because of a drunk driver. So, yes, I do know how you feel. Hang in there, Dr. Robbins." Before Arizona could say anything, Robert walked out the room.

Robert has never talked to anyone about what happened two years ago. He's been keeping it inside, dealing with it in his own way. Arizona was surprised that Dr. Stark, the cranky doctor that no one really want to work with, has shared such personal information, especially to her. April was right, she thought, there's more to Dr. Stark than most people think.


	3. Don't Worry About What People Think

3.

Arizona was so happy when Callie regained consciousness and the baby was in stable condition. She hasn't left her sight ever since Callie responded to her proposal. April walked in the room to check Callie's status. April could not help shed a little tear when she looked at Arizona and said, "Everything's going to be fine. Have you guys decided on a name?"

"Sophia. Hey April, you were right about Stark."

"What about him?" she replied as she wiped her face.

"He opened up to me earlier. He's a pretty decent guy. Did you know about his wife?"

"Umm, no, he never mentioned anything about a wife. He's kind of been avoiding me."

"Oh… But, what happened with your movie date at his place?"

"You knew about that?" April began to blush.

Arizona chuckled, "I was at the baby shower you know… 'I'm not taking my pants off for Stark?'" she recalled in a playful tone.

"Yeah, I cancelled," she checked her pager. "Oh, Chief Webber needs me. I'll see you later."

"April," Arizona called out. "Don't worry about what other people think."

April looked back at Arizona, smiled and rushed to meet the Chief.

April saw the Chief with Dr. Montgomery, and Dr. Karev.

"Okay, gang, Addison notified me that not only does Callie's baby have underdeveloped organs, but she's also having trouble breathing due to her underdeveloped lungs. From this point on, that baby is our priority." Everyone nodded.

Addison looked at Karev. "Don't you all have a head pediatric surgeon?" she asked.

"Yeah, Dr. Stark," Karev replied. "Is he on vacation; because he needs to be part of this case; no exceptions," Addison snapped at Karev.

"Page him," the Chief ordered Karev. "And when you see Dr. Stark, tell him to come see me," added Addison.

"No need to do that, I'm here" Robert responded. "I'm Dr. Stark, and you're Dr…"

"Montgomery. Addison Montgomery. You'll be working with me. This case is now a priority; so whatever you have on your plate, it can wait." But before Robert could answer, Addison added, "Walk with me." They both went to Dr. Stark's office.

Karev smiled. "Oh, how I missed Addison. Can she work here again?"

The Chief shook his head and walked away. April rolled her eyes. "Addison went beast mode on Stark."

"Dr. Montgomery didn't do anything; she just told Dr. Stark what was going on."

"Yeah, and Stark caved liked a little puppy," Karev responded.

Robert's shift ended at 8:00 that night. After a long conference with Addison about Sophia's condition and discussing how to handle her case, he was ready to head home and get some sleep. Just as he was getting in his car, someone tapped his shoulder and startled him.

"Dr. Stark?"

"Jesus Christ!" he yelled out as he turned around and saw Arizona standing in front of him.

"Dear God, Dr. Robbins. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Stark. I just wanted to thank you for comforting me earlier. I mean, you left so suddenly; and now, you're working with Addison on Sophia's case. Thank you."

Robert shrugged. "Well, I'm required to work on it, according to Dr. Montgomery since it's now the hospital's priority." Arizona is now getting used to Dr. Stark's dry remarks.

"Good night, Dr. Robbins."

Arizona smiled, and Robert drove off.

Meanwhile, April was roaming around the hospital looking for Robert. She approached one of the nurses, "have you seen Dr. Stark?"

"Oh, he clocked out five minutes ago. We can page him for you if you'd like."

"That's okay, thanks." She turned around and headed toward the locker room. She was ready to go home, but she really wanted to talk to Dr. Stark. She enjoyed having him around. Even though there was an age difference, they shared the same interests and she liked that.

As she was driving home, she kept remembering the time when they went on a date for the first time. It started out really awkward, considering that she compared him to the Grinch when she told Lexie about him, but as the night wore on, everything seemed perfectly fine. She remembered the moist tiramisu that they had. The thought of the tiramisu made her crave it. She stopped at the nearest grocery store and went to the bakery section.

"Hmm, I'm already here, might as well do a little grocery shopping," she said to herself as she looked at the only item in her basket, tiramisu.

At the checkout line, April couldn't help but wander off to space. She looked to her left at the magazine rack. "It'll be $37.55," the cashier said. She picked up the DVD that was in the rack, "Oh, this too," and paid for her items. It was a sign, she thought.

Pulling into the driveway, she took the DVD and the tiramisu. She walked to the front door and rang the bell. Biting her lower lip, she thought that this may not be a good idea. "Maybe he didn't hear that. April, just turn around;" but she couldn't get herself to do so. She took a deep breath. But as she finally got the courage to turn around and walk back to her car, the door opened.


	4. Childish

4.

"Oh no, he heard it. Now he's standing right in front of me. You probably look stupid right now. You look stupid right now. Say something." April was having a mini panic attack in her mind. She stood at Robert's front door just looking at him with a nervous smile and her eyes looking into his.

"April, what are you doing here?" he asked.

She had no idea what had happened to her vocal cord, because all of her talking was all in her head.

"I want to be more than friends too," she thought, but all she did was raise up the tiramisu and the DVD of '_From_ _Here to Eternity_'. Finally getting the courage to speak up, she said "Mind if I come in?"

Robert was shocked to find April standing on his doorstep; confused actually. All he could think of is why is she here? He was in no mood to talk to her. She just stood there staring at him, but he tried to not look at her. "Listen, I'm really busy right now. I can't talk and I have an early consult with Dr. Montgomery; so good night Dr. Kepner." And that was that. He just closed the door on her. Wow, rejection, she thought to herself.

She drove back to the house; she grabbed all the groceries and headed straight to the kitchen. She found Jackson and Lexie eating dinner. "What a shocker, you guys aren't on top of each other," she said sarcastically. "Bitter much?" commented Jackson. April rolled her eyes. Lexie looked through all the groceries; "tiramisu, rocky road ice cream, DVD, Motrin, chips, tampons… oh it's your time of the month." April glared at her. "No, it is not," she saw Lexie try to grab for the tiramisu. She slapped her hand before she could take it, "Nope, not for you." April grabbed the dessert and the DVD and headed straight to her room.

"Hey, can we have some ice cream?" Jackson called out.

"I don't care," she replied.

"What's her deal?" commented Jackson. Lexie shrugged and helped herself on the ice cream. "Rocky road… just like her love life," Lexie joked. Jackson chuckled.

In her room, April watched the DVD and ate her tiramisu. It was good, but it wasn't as good as the one she had at the restaurant with Robert. She didn't understand why he was acting so childish. She admits that she said she just sees him as a friend, but she didn't say she didn't want to speak to him again. She shook her head and continuously stuffed her mouth with tiramisu. When she got to the iconic beach scene, she couldn't help but cry. "Oh, my God, my love life is pathetic," she cried out as she sniffled. She tried to get another piece of tiramisu, but it was all gone. She didn't even finish the movie when she fell asleep.

Robert was carefully studying the files and charts of baby Sofia when he got a call from Addison.

"Dr. Stark, I know we're supposed to meet up tomorrow, but I got called back at my hospital due to an emergency so I can't work with you on Sofia's case. I've looked through your files and it said you've worked on a similar case-"

"This is a huge case and Sofia's a preemie."

"I understand that, but I'm sure Dr. Karev or Dr. Kepner will be capable to assist you."

"Well, thanks for letting me know beforehand, Dr. Montgomery. Bye."

He shook his head. He can't work with Dr. Robbins because she's practically family, and Dr. Karev, let's face it, he hated Karev. There was no chance in hell that he would work with Karev again. His only choice was April Kepner. "How exciting," he thought to himself.

Arriving at the hospital the next day, he was greeted by the person he truly wanted to see first…

"Dr. Stark, may I speak with you for a moment?"

"If you must, Dr. Karev," they entered Robert's office.

"Dr. Stark, I know you shot down my request for the funds regarding the African children, but I happen to have those needed funds, and I'm just letting you know that the project is a 'go' according to the Chief." Karev sat there with a huge grin on his face.

"Well, I'm happy for you, Dr. Karev, but did the Chief also tell you that with all the surgical trials and other cases going on that your project is too much of an 'add on' for the staff?"

"Yes, he has and he has given me the permission to recruit a doctor to help us out- but with your affirmation, of course."

It took Robert a while to respond. He might actually get Chief Resident, he thought.

"Well, get on it," he replied.

Karev walked out of Robert's office with his head held high. "One for Alex, zero for Stark," he said aloud and walked off.

April overheard Karev and she rolled her eyes. She knocked on Robert's door and entered.

"Dr. Stark, the Chief informed me about Dr. Montgomery leaving and I wanted to know the status on Sofia's operation."

"I'm spear-heading the whole thing and you'll be assisting me. Excuse me," he left the room before April could say a thing.

It had taken them a couple of weeks to get everything started; Sofia's operation and Karev's project. Sofia needed to be in stable condition and Karev finally found a decent doctor to help him out.

"Hi, Dr. -" Karev looked at her file, "Dr. Redford, I'm Dr. Karev. Thank you for coming down here at a short notice."

"Oh, it's no problem at all. I gotta say that this is a really nice project; kudos to you. Your head in pediatrics must be so proud of you."

"Well actually, he ha-" before he could finish, he was interrupted by a little girl that opened the door of the conference room.

"Mommy, are you done yet?" asked the girl about ten years old with the long light auburn hair, just like her mom.

"Grace, we just started. Please wait patiently outside," ordered her mother.

"I'm sorry about that. We just moved here about a week ago and she's a bit stubborn about it."

"I understand," Karev looked back at her file. "Well your resume is very impressive and quite frankly, you're one the best I've seen so far. It's a bit early to tell you that you got the job because Dr. Stark needs to meet up with you and-"

"Come again?"

"Dr. Stark is our head in pediatrics. I know the name just gives shivers down your spine, but it's protocol that you meet with him. He's actually in surgery right now, but as soon as he's done, I'll send him over and it may be a done deal." Karev gathered all the papers and left the room and little Grace entered.

Dr. Redford carried Grace to her lap. "Honey, it's gonna take a while. Do you wanna stay with mom or should I call Aunt Beth to come get you?"

"I'm bored," replied Grace.

"Aunt Beth it is," she said with a sigh of relief.


	5. Dr Melanie Redford

5.

Dr. Karev was patiently waiting for Dr. Stark to finish his surgery with baby Sofia. Dr. Sloan and Robbins both ran out of the OR yelling with joy. That was indication that it was a success.

"Dr. Stark is the best!" Mark yelled out of excitement.

"Yeah, sure" Karev thought and rolled his eyes.

Dr. Stark walked out of the OR with a slight smile on his face after hearing Mark's comment.

Mark followed Stark. "Hey, Dr. Stark, I gotta take you out for a beer or something."

"Don't bother, Dr. Sloan. It's -" Mark cut him off. "No, no, no, I need to; don't argue with me, man. Don't burst my bubble." With that, Stark did not say anything and Mark left him alone.

"What now, Karev?"

"I found a doctor," he said bluntly.

"Wow, it's good to know that you've figured out that this hospital is filled with doctors. Good job, Dr. Karev," he said blatantly.

He ignored his sarcasm. "For my African children project, I found a suitable doctor. She's in the conference room right now."

They both entered the conference room and Karev introduced Dr. Redford as Stark grabbed a seat, not looking at the doctor. "Dr. Stark, this is Dr. Redford." Stark looked at her once he heard her name. Awkward silence… Karev could feel the tension. He kept looking at them, observing the awkwardness in the room. He decided to break the silence

"So, yeah, Dr. Redford has great credentials. She's actually been to third world countries and helped children with similar conditions and-"

"You may leave, Dr. Karev," Stark interrupted him and waved him away.

"Oh, did I mention that he hates me?" Karev said to Dr. Redford before leaving the room.

The two doctors stared at each other for quite some time before Dr. Redford decided to break the ice.

"Hello Robert," she said in a delicate tone.

"Melanie," he replied wryly.

Again with the awkwardness; this time Melanie tried to avoid eye contact. She looked around the room, eventually focusing on a floral painting, the only thing that gave the room a bit of color. Robert suddenly had a rush of mixed emotions. Should he be angry for what she did ten years ago? Should he just let it go? Should he be happy that he's seeing her again?

"So, uh, from what I've heard you're a family man now."

"And from what I've heard… oh wait, I haven't heard anything about you. And, not anymore; I lost them two years ago."

She didn't know what to say, but "I'm sorry."

It was quiet again for a while until Melanie finally said, "You know what I really am sorry, but if it's gonna be awkward and if you don't want me to work here, that's fine; I have other interviews I can go to where clearly, they want me to work for them."

And with that, she grabbed her purse and stormed out of the room. Karev was at the nurses' station waiting to see if Dr. Stark hired Dr. Redford, but when he saw her hurry out the building, Karev had lost hope. "Stark is out to get me and he's never going to hire any of the doctors I recruit," he vented to April. "Maybe she's just not right for your project."

"Whatever, April, she's perfectly qualified!" snapped Karev.

Robert doesn't really like to go after anyone, but Melanie was different. She is right for the job, so he left the conference room and went after her.

"Melanie!" he yelled out. "I want you to work here!" he called out and the whole hospital basically heard it.

"Well, that's definitely a new side of Stark we haven't seen," said Meredith and joined April and Karev as they watched Stark and Redford.

"Who's Melanie?" Meredith asked

"My ticket to get to the Chief Resident position," Karev replied with a cocky tone.

April and Meredith rolled their eyes. Meredith and Karev left April at the nurses' station as she discreetly watched Robert and Melanie; she grabbed a chart and started to flip through it to make it not too obvious. Robert and Melanie both sat down and started talking. "What were they talking about?" she thought.

Robert touched Melanie's shoulder. "Listen, why don't we just put the past behind us. This hospital would be glad to have you on our staff, especially with this great of a project. What do you say? "

"Thank you, Robert. When can I start?"

"Tomorrow would be fine. Well, if you'd excuse me, I have a consult I need to attend to."

"Still the same old Robert, I see. Nice that we're working together again," she smiled and walked away.

Robert, not saying anything, looked back and smiled. He headed towards April to retrieve a chart for his consult.

"Is that the Bridgeport chart?" he asked her.

"Uh, yeah," she said nervously and handed him the chart.

"Wrong chart, Dr. Kepner," calmly pointed out. She apologized and nervously searched for the right chart and gave it to him.

"Thank you," he said and walked away.

She had a disappointed look on her face, and she buried it on her palms and quickly brushing her hands through her hair with frustration.

"Subtle," commented Lexie as she approached April.

April let out a deep sigh. "Whatever," she said.

"No, it's not whatever; clearly you're developing a little something-something, I don't understand why, but anyway talk to him."

"Lexie, how do you-"

"Oh, April, I know. I know," she said as she nodded her head.

Meanwhile at the Bridgeport consult, Robert was joined by Arizona. But before they could talk about the case, Arizona started off by saying, "So, who is this Melanie, the whole hospital has been talking about?"

Robert rolled his eyes and glared at her. "Is there anything this hospital won't do, but gossip?" he snapped at her.

Arizona put her hands up, "Just curious, Dr. Stark. Just curious," he didn't say anything. "So, who is she?" she asked again.

"A former colleague; now she's working with us on the African children cases." He answered her, not even bothering to look at her. He didn't want her to see his facial expression.

"Just… a former colleague," she suggested, prying for more details. Arizona was now comfortable with Dr. Stark. She understood that his sarcasm, snarky-ness and his flat out bad attitude was just a defense mechanism toward others. It's safe to say that she considered him a friend; after all, he did save her baby.

His head is still down looking at charts. "Oh, come on, Dr. Stark. Speak. One-on-one; let it out."

He brought his head up. "This stays between us." Arizona nodded. "It's none of your business." He said it calmly and returned to reviewing the charts.

Arizona rolled her eyes. "Well, sorry to point out the obviously, but the whole hospital basically knows that you two had a history."

That was trigger; he rolled his eyes and finally confirmed it. "Yes, there was a history between us and now obviously it's over."

Arizona looked confused. "That was very straightforward, clarify."

"Dr. Robbins, when did you feel the need to act as though you're my friend?" He asked sternly.

Arizona looked down, it took her a while to respond, but she finally did, "when you showed me that you had a heart and when you saved my daughter." She said fighting back the tears. She composed herself before speaking again, "I'm sorry." Robert shook his head, "no, I'm sorry. Why don't we get back to the case; I'll buy you coffee after." Arizona smiled and they talked about the case.

After the consult, April was patiently waiting outside the room for Robert. He walked out with Arizona.

"Excuse me, Dr. Robbins, but Dr. Stark, may I speak with you for just a second?" Arizona didn't seem to mind.

"Sorry, Dr. Kepner, but can this wait, I'm kind of busy," he walked off with Arizona; she looked back at April who looked disappointed.

"Coffee is not 'busy'," she snapped as they sat down with their coffee. He didn't respond.

"Ok, Stark, we're friends now. Speak," she demanded.

He put his hand on his mouth, and then said "When did my life get to complicated?"

Arizona rested her head on her hand, "Um, when you decided to show that you were a nice human being with feelings?" she guessed.

"Rhetorical question, Robbins." He snapped at her.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't think so, I mean your life is getting complicated with two women, damn," she spotted his look of surprise, "Oh, yes, Stark, I know." Before he could speak, she cut him off. "You're trying to ignore Kepner because she blew you off that one time, but you still have feelings for her, and now an old flame comes along, and correct me if I'm wrong, but now you don't know what you're feeling." He didn't respond.

"Exactly!" she called out and put her hands up, "I knew it. I was right." She rested her head on her hand again. "Okay, so I know the whole thing about April, now Melanie… what happened with her?"

As much as he hates to admit it, he liked having Arizona as a friend. He tried to recall what happened with him and Melanie. "Well, I've known Melanie for quite some time and I've worked with her at the last hospital I've worked at before I transferred here. We were together for four years and then suddenly she just left and moved somewhere else. I haven't heard from her since, and now she's here. Small world, isn't it?"

"Do you still love her?"

He shrugged.

"And what about April?"

He shrugged.


	6. Grace

6.

Today was the day the African children would arrive at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital and it was also Melanie's first day and for the first time, she was running late.

"Beth, are you sure you can't stay a little longer? Who's gonna watch Grace?"

"I'm sorry Mel, but I do have a job back in LA, I really am sorry-"

"Mom, I can take care of myself," said Grace with her arms crossed.

"Gracie, we're in a new place and you don't know anyone. I'm concerned about your safety so just stay out of this and eat your breakfast," ordered her mother.

Grace rolled her eyes and stomped off to the kitchen.

"Why don't you take her to work with you," Beth suggested as he gathered her things.

Melanie rubbed her temples and sighed. "I should have told you this last night, but…"

"But what?"

"Robert works there. He's Chief in Pediatric Surgery."

"Rob-"

"Yeah."

"That's awkward, but still, I can't stay. Just take her with you. What could possibly go wrong?" They heard the cab honk.

"Don't jinx it."

"Mel, I gotta go. I love you. I'll call you as soon as I can." Melanie nodded and gave her sister a big hug.

Beth went to the kitchen to give her niece an even bigger hug and kissed her on the forehead. "Bye, grouch, I'll miss you. Behave yourself and don't give your mom a headache."

"Bye Aunt Beth. Take me with you."

"Sorry, kiddo, you're stuck here," and with that she left. Melanie walked her out and waved goodbye. She returned to the kitchen. "Seriously mom, just leave me here."

"Let me think about it…. Uh, no," she checked for the time and it was 8:05. She has 10 minutes to get ready, she yelled out an expletive, "Oh, Grace, don't say that!"

"Mom, I'm ten." Melanie ignored her.

"You're coming to the hospital with me. Go get ready and hurry!"

They got to the hospital at 8:20, and she was glad to see Karev first.

"Oh, my God, Dr. Karev, I'm sorry that I'm a little late."

"Please, call me Alex."

"Alex, do you know any good day care?"

When Grace heard her mom, she got really upset, "mom, you have got to be kidding me! I don't need to be in a day care." She glared at Melanie and crossed her arms.

"Grace, you are going to behave!"

"Dr. Redford, I think she'll be fine sticking around here at the hospital. I mean she won't be able to stay with the Pediatric department because we have a busy day today, but I have some friends that may be able to watch her for a while. What do you say Grace?"

She gave Karev a mean look and rolled her eyes, "I guess."

"Great," her mother said with a sigh of relief and they parted ways. Grace was with Karev and Melanie went to go meet with Robert. She entered his office.

"Don't you knock, Melanie?"

She apologized then walked out. She knocked and then entered.

"I knocked." She took a seat.

"I always admired your punctuality, Melanie. What happened this morning?"

"Family issues; I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

He waved it off, "oh, don't worry about it. The children will be here in about an hour. All their charts are at the nurses' station. Why don't you go and familiarize yourself with them and I'll go do a little bit of rounds."

Karev was still with Grace and deep down; he felt that she did not like him. Before he could even talk to her, she immediately put in her earphones and listened to her iTouch. He asked Jackson and Lexie to look out for her for a while, but they were both busy.

"Why don't you just take her to Pediatrics with you? Isn't there like an empty playroom there? There, you can check in on her and Stark won't go in there if you're worried about him snapping at you," Lexie recommended.

"Alright, thanks Lex," she nodded and smiled at Grace. They got to the playroom and it was empty.

"Okay, I'm gonna leave you here, but I'll check on you from time to time and I'll let your mom know you're here." She looked at the room in disgust, what was she going to do there. She nodded at Karev and then waved him off as she listened to her music. After closing the door, Karev came to a conclusion: he didn't like her either.

He found Melanie looking through charts at the nurses' station. "Hey, Dr. Redford, Grace is in the playroom here in pediatrics. I'll check in on her from time to time, but I was just letting you know she's over there."

"Okay, thank you, Alex," she touched his arm and smiled.

"No problem. No offense, but is she always like that?" he asked.

"Like what?"

"Well, stubborn and kind of mean?"

Melanie chuckled, "yeah, it's personality; that's why we call her 'Grouch' around the house. It's no help that we moved and she has no friends up here, but she's really a great kid, smart too."

"Oh, I understand, well, I'll leave you be. I'll page you and Dr. Stark when the children arrive."

In the playroom, Grace sat in the corner listening to her iTouch as she played some games. She knew she would be stuck there all day; she hated being in that room filled with baby toys and blocks with letters and numbers. Did she look like someone that didn't know her ABCs and 123s? She didn't want to kill her iTouch's battery, so she decided to leave that monstrosity of a room and go on a little adventure and explore the hospital; she's done that before at her mom's old hospital, she didn't think there'd be any problems here. Since her mom works in pediatrics, she likes roaming around that department, visiting other children and maybe even talking to them. She may have a cold exterior, but she's really a nice person. She enjoyed reading to little kids that didn't have visitors and liked keeping them company.

As she was walking around, she was stopped by April Kepner.

"Hi! Where are you supposed to be?" Her smile kind of creeped her out; she was too perky for her taste.

"Uh, my mom works here. They put me in that horrible playroom, so I was just walking around, you know, stretching out my legs."

"Oh, okay, well don't go roaming too far and be careful okay. And does your mom know that you left the room?"

"Uh, yeah, totally," she said convincingly.

"Oh, all right then."

And with that, she was off. She was a bit disappointed to find that the patients in pediatrics were either sleeping or were ordered to be in complete bed rest. "Great," she thought. She didn't want to go back in the playroom; she'd rather watch surgery taking place. On second thought, she didn't surgeries freak her out. Instead of heading back to the playroom, she decided to go in one of the conference rooms that she assumed were empty. She was wrong. In that conference room, she found Dr. Stark finishing some post-ops. He stopped writing and looked up and he saw this little girl.

"Get out," he snapped and continued to write.

"Why?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed somewhere," he said not looking at her.

"Do I look like a patient?" she snapped back.

He stopped writing again and put his pen down. "Well you are in pediatrics—"she took a seat near him, "and you're a child…"

"I'm ten."

"Making you a child," she ignored his comment. "What are you doing here, anyway?" he continued.

"Well my mom works here and Alex put me in the playroom and I got bored, so here I am." He continued to write his post-ops.

"I'm Grace by the way, who are you?" Robert used his pen to point out the name on his lab coat.

"Dr. Robert Stark," she read, "Chief of Pediatric Surgery. My mom was Chief one time," she bragged.

"Was she?" he said not looking up at her.

"Yup," she said as she tapped her fingers on the table.

Getting annoyed with her tapping, Robert said "do you mind? I'm trying to write my post-ops."

His tone startled her. She stopped, "I'm sorry." Robert saw that she jumped a little when he told her to stop.

She didn't bother him for a while. She just sat there quietly. "Don't bite your nails," he told her. He gave her a piece of gum, "here, chew on this."

He finished his post-ops and he decided to have a little conversation with the kid. "So, why aren't you at home enjoying your summer?"

"My mom won't let me stay home alone."

"Mom and dad both working?" he asked.

"Yeah, my mom, but I'm not so sure about the dad part, considering that I don't know him."

He knew this was a touchy subject. He checked his watch. "Well, Grace, it's almost lunch time. Would you like to get some lunch with me?"

"Yeah, sure," she followed him out. He dropped off the charts at the nurses' station and they walked toward the cafeteria.

Melanie went to go check on her daughter at the playroom to see if she was hungry. She opened the door. "Hey Gracie, do you-" before she could finish, she realizes that her daughter wasn't there. She began to panic. She asked one of the nurses to page Dr. Karev because he was the only one that knew she was in the room.

"Yes, Dr. Redford."

"Is Grace with you?"

"Uh, no," he replied.

"Well, she's not in the playroom. I have a meeting with Chief Webber. Would you do me a favor and look for her? She usually just walks around the hospital whenever she's with me-"

"Yeah, no problem," Karev responded. He didn't know where to begin. This was a big hospital and she could be anywhere. This little girl is giving him more trouble than Dr. Stark, and he didn't like him either.

Lexie and April were on their way to the cafeteria when they saw Karev. "Hey, Alex, we're gonna go get lunch, wanna join us?" Lexie offered.

"Nah, I gotta look for that evil little girl that was with me earlier." He shook his head in frustration.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, I guess she just decided that she wanted to walk around the hospital and now I gotta go find her."

"Well, good luck with that," they walked away.

"Wait," April told Lexie, "I saw a little girl earlier she said her mom worked here."

"Oh, yeah, that's her. She's the new pediatric surgeon's daughter. Don't worry about her, Alex will find her. She's Alex's problem now."

When they entered the cafeteria, they joined Meredith who was happily observing Dr. Stark and Grace.

"Hey, Mer, what are you looking at?" Lexie asked. She looked over the same direction. She and April saw a completely different side of Stark.

"This isn't normal," Meredith commented.

"Well, we found the kid," Lexie said

"What do you mean?" Meredith asked.

"Alex is looking for her," said April in amazement as she watched Robert and Grace.

Meredith and Lexie now looked at April.

"You're drooling," joked Lexie.

"Ha. Ha. Funny," snapped April. "Should we page Alex?"

"Yeah, why not; I want to see the look on his face when he sees that Stark has her," laughed Lexie.

Within minutes, Karev entered the cafeteria and joined the girls. Lexie pointed at Stark's direction.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

Meredith and Lexie laughed. April just kept looking at Robert and how he has such a natural presence with kids. That was probably essential considering that he works in pediatrics.

Alex finally got the courage to just walk over there.

"Hey, Dr. Stark; Grace," he said in an annoyed tone.

"See, I told you he'd come looking for me."

"Why'd you leave the playroom, Grace?"

"I got bored," she replied bluntly.

"You didn't expect her to stay in there all day, did you Dr. Karev? I mean with no food or water?" Stark questioned Karev.

"Exactly, Dr. Karev. Aside from being bored, I was parched," she said innocently and smiled nonchalantly.

Karev didn't know how to respond. "Just leave her here with me, Dr. Karev. I'll let her hang around in my office later." They both waved him away. He walked towards April, Lexie and Meredith with a stunned look on his face.

"Please tell me you all witnessed that. I need some air."

"Walk it off, Alex; walk it off," suggested Meredith.

Grace spent the rest of the day in Robert's office, where there were way more cooler stuff than in the playroom. Karev informed Melanie that she was with Robert when she left the playroom. Melanie was semi-relieved. The African children arrived at the hospital right on schedule. The first day main goal was evaluating the children and preparing them for what's to come next.

After her shift, Melanie reunited with her daughter and Robert was with her.

"Grace Ellen Redford," she said sternly. "You will not run off like that again."

"Mom, I'm ten."

"I know how old you are!" Grace rolled her eyes.

"Robert, thanks for letting her stay in your office today. I hope she didn't mess anything up."

"Eh, she's ten. She can clean up after herself." Grace and Robert looked at each other and smiled.

Melanie didn't say anything.

"See you around, kid," Robert added as they walked away, but Grace looked back and waved goodbye.

He chuckled, "I like that kid," he said to himself.


	7. Chief Resident

7.

The past month has been a roller coaster ride for April. Not only has she had to deal with the competition for the Chief Resident position, but on top of that, she's made attempts to talk to Robert, but he managed to keep his distance. Also, the African children project that Karev managed to acquire for the hospital definitely added to the pressure for the Chief Residency and she has grown attached to Asha, the ten year old who suffered from AIDS and advanced TB, who had unfortunately passed away before any type of surgery. One thing she was most proud of was that she was able to make her eat during her last moments. She fed her with the staple food from her country. She lashed out at Robert at the process of making it due to her frustration; her frustration about Asha's condition, her frustration on Robert, and her frustration on herself. There was nothing that she could've done to change Asha's fate, but there's still something she can do about her and Robert's situation, although, she can't manage to get the courage to do so.

With things going bad, she strongly believed that something good will come out of it. And she was right. She found herself staring at a piece of paper on the bulletin board that had her name on it, naming her Chief Resident. April Kepner, the country girl from Columbus, Ohio is Chief Resident at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. She was ecstatic about this wonderful news; her heart soared. She felt tears trickling down her face, but she quickly brushed it off. She wasn't really worried about what the other residents were thinking; she was just filled with such joy to care about what other people felt. The first person she wanted to see was the one that gave her the position, Dr. Hunt.

"Knock, knock," she said as she entered Dr. Hunt's office with a smile on her face.

"Ah, Dr. Kepner, come in," Hunt gestured for her to have a seat. "What can I do for you, Chief Resident?" He smiled, and she blushed.

"I just wanted to say thank you for giving me the position. I am truly grateful of the fact that you have trusted in me to carry on with the position."

"Well, Dr. Kepner, you deserve the job and we are honored to have you. But-" he paused.

"You see, I'm not entirely responsible for giving you the job."

"I don't understand," she said in a confused tone.

"You should really be thanking Dr. Stark. He spoke very highly of you," Hunt admitted.

"Really?"

Now, she was really confused. Dr. Stark, the man that's been avoiding her for weeks, a month, even, had 'spoken very highly' of her?

"Yeah, in fact, you were the only resident that got a recommendation from an attending for the position. Dr. Stark didn't even write a letter of recommendation; he came directly to me-"

April could not believe what she was hearing. She was about to cry but managed to hold it in.

"Well, congratulations, Dr. Kepner," Dr. Hunt held out his hand, but April was so overcome with joy that she hugged him. Hunt was surprised, but he eventually hugged her in return.


	8. The Talk

8.

It's been a hectic and rewarding day for April. Her shift was almost over and she ready to get home. After leaving Dr. Hunt's office, the only thoughts in her head were, "yes, I'm Chief Resident" and "Dr. Stark." She has been thinking about him ever since she rejected him; back then she just considered him as a friend, and now she missed their conversations and inside jokes. She wanted to take back the "friends" comment. But she knew she can't back in time and fix that mistake. She's kicking herself about it now because, she knew he still has feelings for her and was responsible for her Chief Resident position. And now she's admitting to herself that she had feelings for him too. All this thinking was giving her a headache. She rubbed her forehead as she walked, but she was stopped by Lexie who gave her a big hug.

"April! You're Chief Resident!"

She laughed, "I know, this is so exciting."

"I'm happy for you," Lexie said as she rubbed April's arm.

"Thanks, but I know about three people who aren't," she said bluntly.

Lexie rolled her eyes, "Oh, April, you know that's not true. They're all happy for you; they're just a competitive bunch. But even if they're not, who cares, you know-" Lexie was still talking but April zoned out when she saw Robert stop by the nurses' station and looked at charts. She just stared at him while Lexie was still talking. Now she had the urge to just walk up to him and tell him what she really felt. She took a deep breath and left Lexie, who was still talking; Lexie looked confused when April left her.

"April what happened?"

She ignored her and kept walking towards Robert when Arizona approached him. She wanted to turn around, but somehow told herself to keep going. Robert and Arizona were having a conversation now; she didn't want to seem rude, but this needs to be done, she thought. Lexie watched her as she walked thinking about what she was going to do.

"Excuse me, Dr. Robbins, but I need to talk to Dr. Stark-"

"Can't you see I'm in the middle of something, Dr. Kep-" April went for it, put her arms around his neck and kissed Robert to stop him from talking and from telling her to leave. Much to her surprise, he kissed back, but quickly pulled away.

Lexie's eyes widened as her mouth fell open; Arizona reacted the same way and slowly backed away.

"I'm just gonna leave you guys to… talk," Arizona commented.

Lexie still could not believe what just happened. She didn't want to look like a creep, so decided to just walk away and leave them be, but she was definitely going to be talking about this to Jackson, and Meredith, oh the hell with it, she's telling all her friends, she snickered. "Oh, April," she murmured.

"Can we go somewhere private?" she started off as she realized what she has done.

"Oh, now you want to go somewhere private?"

She shot him an annoyed look. He rolled his eyes and they went in his office.

Before the door was even completely shut, April said, "You like me."

"Excuse me? What makes you say that? You kissed me, remember?"

"Ah, but you kissed back!" she said in her defense.

"Well… it's becau- You know what, is there anything else you need here, because I have to head home. I do have an early day tomorrow," he said trying to change and avoid the subject.

April wasn't buying it; she shook her head. "Do you know what your problem is?"

He rolled his eyes. "Humor me, what's my problem?"

"You tend to push people away…"

After hearing that comment, he couldn't help but laugh, "Ha! Me? Push people away?"

She rolled her eyes, knowing perfectly well what he was talking about. She took a deep sigh. "I- I take back what I said that night; you know, about us being friends... I take it back." She played with her hair and tried not to make eye contact. What she said was as shocking as the kiss she gave him earlier. He looked at her, flabbergasted.

"Well…. Say something," she scowled.

He scratched his head, "why now?"

She took a seat and sighed, "well, maybe because… because I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

"I was scared of… of being in a relationship, opening myself up to someone and giving them everything and getting hurt in the end."

Robert nodded and took the seat next to her. "I understand," he said patting her knee.

April turned to him, "I'd like you to come join me for dinner."

"Wow, Dr. Kepner, when did you learn to take charge?"

"When I became Chief Resident," she said proudly.

"You got it?"

"You sound surprised, Dr. Stark… I know you recommended me."

"So, Hunt told you." She nodded.

"You deserve that job," he said.

She smiled. "So, dinner? What do you say?"

"No."

She looked disappointed. "…because I was raised on the principle that a guy should always be the one to ask a girl out," he continued. "I'll let you know, Dr. Kepner." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek then left his office.

Once she left the room, he couldn't help but smile. "Ah, what a day," he said under his breath. Walking out to the parking lot, Robert was glad about how his day played out. He couldn't wait to get home and drink a glass of wine.

"Robert!" He heard someone call out.

"Melanie, I thought you'd be home by now. Where's Grace? I haven't seen her all day." Melanie had been bringing her daughter to work ever since her first day and she has gotten close to Robert. Dr. Karev had managed to avoid them from time to time. He was just so freaked out how two evil can be in the same room.

"Oh, I didn't bring her. She was feeling a little under the weather today so I left her home with a sitter. Well, anyway, I really need to talk to you. Do you mind if we go somewhere for a drink or something?"

It's been ten years since he's been out with Melanie and he can't believe how she still looks as beautiful as she did ten years ago. "Uh, sure, there's a little bistro ten minutes from here," he suggested.

"Okay, I'll- I'll follow you."

Robert was worried about what they were going to talk about. From the tone of her voice, she sounded serious and he was curious to know if it was about their past relationship. Deep down, Robert still cared for Melanie, but he can't get over the fact that one day she just decided to leave without any means of an explanation; he had the same fears as April, being in a relationship, opening up to someone and giving them everything, but in the end they screw you over and you get hurt.

At the bistro, Melanie seemed tense as they took their seats. A glass of wine calmed her down.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Robert asked. "It sounded serious."

"Well, it is," she sighed. "First off I want to apologize again for what happened ten years ago."

Robert shook his head, "Melanie, didn't we agree to leave this behind us and forget about it?"

Melanie held out her hand telling him to stop. "I know, but I just need to—I don't know, what I did to you is unacceptable and I've deprived you of something you should have had and I want to give you an explanation to why I left," she said wiping the tears from her face.

"Mel, I'm not quite following you, what are you trying to say?"

"I left because I was scared. You were so happy with where your career was headed, I mean look at you now, that settling down with me would consequently bring you down professionally."

"That's why you left?" he said bitterly. "Without even talking to me, you just decided that on your own. I didn't get a say?"

"This is why I'm here right now; apologizing to you, admitting that I was at fault! I was wrong then and I'm still wrong now."

"What do you mean you're still wrong now? Is there anything else I need to know about your departure?"

"Yes, there is, and it's about how I deprived you of something or I should say someone," she admitted.

Robert did not respond.

"About three weeks after I left, I found out I was pregnant and-"

He cut her off, "Is Grace my daughter?"

"Yes," she said quickly.

Robert brushed his fingers through his hair and grunted in frustration. "And you didn't think for one second that maybe I wanted to know or had the right to know?"

He shook his head. A lot has happened today and he couldn't take it anymore. This was making his headache worse.

"Mel, you've given me a whole lot of information to process; if you'd excuse me, I've had enough for the night, but we will continue this talk." Melanie nodded and with that he left $20 for his drink and left the bistro.

His headache seemed to have worsened as he thought about Melanie and Grace, especially Grace. He had grown close to her, not knowing she was his daughter. He didn't forget that he and April were in good terms, but the new information Melanie has given him has been occupying his thoughts.

He fell asleep with April and Grace on his mind, wondering what the next day will bring.


	9. Isn't she Lovely, Isn't she Wonderful?

9.

April walked in the hospital with a confident demeanor. She realized that since she's Chief Resident she must exude the presence of a leader; she can't let them see when she's weak or else they'll be able to take advantage of her and push her around; that's not acceptable for a woman with her position. Also, she had a feeling that today will be a good day. She didn't have to worry about Robert because everything between them seemed to be fine. She appreciated the idea that he was being old fashioned about asking someone out on a date. She smiled at the thought of that.

As she approached the locker room, she passed by two nurses.

"Yes, she's the one; planted one right on the lips. It was intense," one nurse whispered to the other. April simply rolled her eyes.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Chief Resident, herself," Karev said as she walked in the locker room.

"Alex, don't start with me right now."

"What? I'm merely congratulating you. I mean, you got what we all have been competing for, for months, maybe even more."

April was surprised. He seemed quite genuine about his greeting. "Well, thank you, Alex. Even if I didn't get the job, I'll still be okay. You, Meredith, and Christina also deser-" he cut her off.

"But I was right though…"

"Right about what?"

"Right about what I said before; you sleeping your way to the top," he said bluntly.

"Ugh, excuse me? I didn't slee- wait, are you talking about Rob- I mean, Dr. Stark?"

"Yeah, I know what happened last night. Wow, April, really?" He shook his head and chuckled.

"Okay, first off, I'm not sleeping with Stark. Second, he's a nice guy and third, it's none of your damn business." She put on her scrubs and left Alex standing there.

When Robert woke up, he was relieved that he didn't have to work today. He didn't have to deal with the constant whispers that he knew was going to happen; thanks to what happened last night, but he wasn't complaining.

Typically, on his days off, he usually goes to the country club, meets some of his friends and spends a good portion of the day golfing or playing tennis. Today was different. He wanted to finish his conversation with Melanie. After pouring a cup of coffee, he dialed her number. It rang four times before someone finally answered. It was Grace.

_Hello?_

"Melanie?"

_It's Grace, actually. Who is this?_

"Hi Grace," he paused before he could introduce himself. His daughter was talking to him and he didn't exactly know how to start a conversation with her. "It's Dr. Stark. Is your mom there?"

_Uh, yeah, she's actually walking in the kitchen now. "Mom, Dr. Stark is on the phone," _he heard her say.

_Hey, Robert, _heheard Melanie's voice on the other line now.

"Are you off today?"

_No, but I don't have to go in till six, so I have time. Do you want to, uh, continue our talk?_

"Yes, that's why I called. But if you're busy, we can do it another time…"

_No, no, no, I'm not busy. I just have to find a sitter for Grace._

"You don't have to do that… bring her with you," he suggested.

_Are… are you sure? Where are we going?_

"Yeah, she is my daughter," he said easily. "We'll, uh, have some breakfast."

Robert offered to pick them up and they had breakfast at the country club he usually goes to. Breakfast wasn't as awkward as he thought it would be. Of course, Grace didn't know the truth so it was just a regular day out with her mom and her mom's co-worker that she actually got along with. Robert learned a lot about her. She played tennis, she went to drama camp, and she was always on the honor roll. Grace excused herself to go watch a tennis match at the court.

"She's terrific, Mel," he commented in awe.

She smiled, "I know, she amazes me every day. She may be stubborn at times, but she's truly wonderful and I'm grateful that I have her."

"I wish I could say the same thing," he said bluntly before he took a sip of his coffee.

"I know, and I'm sorry," she sighed.

He shook his head, "no, no, you're not getting off that easy. I'm still mad at you for what you did."

"Oh, come on, Robert. We… I, I mean I…" she corrected herself when she saw his glare. "…I can fix this right now. I'll tell her the truth right now."

"No, no, don't do that; not just yet. I want her to get used to me; get to know me a little bit better before she finds out."

"Alright, alright. But do you forgive me?" She gave him the sorry look and smiled innocently.

Robert couldn't say 'no' to that look. Her charms worked on him a while ago, and it still works now. Of course, he doesn't have the same feelings for her as he did ten years ago, but he did care for her.

He rolled his eyes in defeat and sighed. "Of course I forgive you. Although I still think the reasoning of your departure was stupid, I can't stay mad at you for long, I mean, you are the mother of my child."

Melanie grabbed Robert's hand and squeezed it and they smiled at each other. They let go when they saw Grace approach the table.

"Mom, can you sign me up for tennis practice here? This place is awesome!"

"Well…" Before Melanie could answer, Grace held out a piece of paper.

"Mom, I already have the papers here and all the information is on it."

"Well…" She looked at Robert hinting that he should take over and make the decision. "I'll have to think about it."

"Melanie, I think this is a good idea," he added. "She did say that she liked tennis earlier, and I'm a member so, maybe I can add her on my membership. That's if it's okay with you, of course," he looked at Melanie.

"Oh, my God, mom, that would be perfect. What do you say?" She pressed her hands together, pleading. "Please, mom." She smiled innocently. Just like her mother, Robert thought.

"Oh, okay."

Grace jumped up and down with joy and gave her mom a hug, then Robert, much to his surprise, but he liked it.

"Thank you, Dr. Stark," she told him.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." He smiled. He liked that feeling, the feeling he had for Grace. She may not know that he's her father, but to him, he knew and it felt great.

Robert and Grace went to the front desk and took care of the membership to the country club. Melanie was glad the Grace liked Robert not knowing that he was her father. She hoped she'd still feel the same way when she finds out the truth. She didn't want to put a lot of worry on that matter; she was just glad about what was happening right now that she couldn't help but smile.

Then, Melanie suddenly felt an excruciating pain in her abdomen. She's been experiencing pain like that for a while now, but it came and went and it lasted for a little while, so she didn't really worry about it. But this time it was worse and it remained for at least a couple of minutes. She held the pain to herself and it would eventually go away. She pressed on her abdomen and quietly gasped, trying not to attract attention her way. It now went away and Grace ran towards her.

"Mom! I'm a member. I can come here whenever I want! Dr. Stark said he'll take me on his day off next week."

Still recovering from the pain she hugged her and weakly said, "Oh, honey, that's great."

"Mel, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I felt a sharp pain earlier, but I'm okay now."

He was uncertain about her answer. He brought them back home, but before Melanie got out of the car, Robert turned to her and said, "hey, I know you said you were okay earlier, but you gotta get yourself checked out. You know, to make sure you're okay." She nodded.

"Oh, another thing," he called out as she got out of his car. "If you ever need someone to watch Grace, I'm… I'm here so…"

Melanie thought about it and she liked that idea. "Well, I do have to work tonight. Now that you offered, and you are her father…"

He shook his head, "I'll watch her; just bring her over to my house."

He gave her his address, she waved goodbye and he drove off.

April finished her paper work and she just sat there thinking about Robert. She hasn't seen him all day, it was probably his day off, she thought. She just sat there tapping her pen. Tap, tap, tap, tap, and tap. She kept looking to see if he would walk by, but no. Lexie sat next to her. "He's not here you know, if that's who you're thinking about, and I know that's who you're thinking about."

"How do you know?"

"Well, I looked at the surgery board, and Robbins and Redford have all the surgeries in Pedes today. So stop daydreaming." She laughed. "You know, I can't believe you did that last night. It took real guts April." She chewed on her twizzler.

"I wasn't planning on doing that; I just wanted to talk to him."

"Ah, talk… I see," she said in a teasing tone.

April rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you, whose service are you in all this week?"

"I'll be alternating between Altman and Hunt," she recalled.

April nodded, "Do you want me to add Sloan on that list?" She said with a condescending smile.

Lexie's eyes widened, "you wouldn't!"

She held up her charts and papers. "I'm Chief Resident; try me," her smiled widened and walked off.

"Chief Residency made you evil!" Lexie called out and bit on her twizzlers.

April looked back and kept smiling as she walked off.

Meanwhile back at Robert's house, he sat at his desk googling possible conversation topics for tonight when he'll be looking after Grace. This was unusual to him because he works in pediatrics; he makes a living dealing with children. The only thing different is that Grace is his daughter.

He found the internet absolutely useless, filled with mostly fabricated material. He can't believe he's actually going there for parenting advice. He shut off his laptop as soon as he saw the names Justin Bieber, Jonas Brothers, and Taylor Swift. He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. There was only one option left; calling the last person he thought he'd ever call for help in this situation.

_Hello? _Arizona answered.

"Hey, uh, this is Robert… Stark."

_Yes, Dr. Stark, how may I help you?_

"Are you busy?"

_I wouldn't consider it busy, but I'm on my shift, why?_

"I need to talk to you… I'll buy you lunch," he offered.

_Actually, I just bought my lunch. I'm heading to my office right now. I usually eat lunch with Callie, but it's her day off and she's with Sofi- _He cut her off.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't care." Arizona rolled her eyes; she took no offense to his comment.

_You said you wanted to talk… so, talk. _

"Can't we talk in person? It's kind of a longs story."

_Well, come here at the hospital. You can watch me eat my lunch._

"Is that my only option?"

_You are so lazy! Oh, do you have a webcam on your laptop?_

"Yes, but do I look like the type that would video chat," he said in a repulsed tone.

Arizona sighed. _You know what? If you want to talk to me, you have to come here. Bye. Dr. Stark._ She hung up the phone.

He got to the hospital about ten minutes later and headed straight to Arizona's. Nurses had to take a double look to see if it was really Robert. They weren't used to seeing him in the hospital in casual clothing; in fact, they usually would just avoid him. He knocked on her door and entered. She was taking a bite of her salad when he sat down.

"Well, it's nice to see you in normal day to day clothes, Dr. Stark," she said to him complementing his jeans and black Lacoste polo and Sperry boat shoes. "So, what was so urgent that you needed to talk to me?"

"This is staying between us." She nodded in agreement. He didn't know where to begin, he tried to compose his thoughts, but they seem to keep getting jumbled in his head. "Grace is my daughter," he eventually said, sparing himself from beating around the bush. Arizona stared at him trying to process what he just said.

"Whoa, whoa, what? You can't be serious. Really?" He nodded. "How did this happen?"

He rolled his eyes, "well, Dr. Robbins, if you'd paid attention to anatomy class; when a man and woman-" she cut him off. "Okay, thanks Dr. Sarcasm, no details needed. Does Grace know?"

"She was pregnant when she left that day ten years ago. She just told me yesterday, and no, she doesn't. I want her to get to know me a little better."

"Wow, what a week you've had: successful surgeries, a kiss from April Kepner, and now you have a daughter! Hey, maybe she can babysit Sofia sometime," she suggested.

"Oh, yeah, speaking of babysitting, I'm watching her tonight and I don't exactly know what to do. Maybe I can talk to Mark about this or something." He'd heard stories about Dr. Sloan, in fact all he's heard stories about all the staff, including him, when nurses gossip and pretended not to care.

"Mark! I know I may not be the expert, but what could he possibly know about ten year old little girls!"

He thought about that idea and shrugged, "you're right," he admitted.

"Exactly! Okay let me think. Oh, the new Justin Bieber DVD is out; maybe you can just let her watch that all night…"

"You too? And I thought the internet was bad."

"Wait, you googled babysitting tips?" She was surprised to find this out and in turn laughed. "Oh, Dr. Stark you're funny."

"Yes, I googled!" He scowled. "I don't understand how this is so difficult and confusing. I make my living working around children!"

Arizona sighed. "Well, first of all, she's your daughter and she doesn't know it yet, so of course it's awkward for you; second, the children that you see on a daily basis are either on meds or high up on anesthetics on surgery or toddlers who can't speak. And third, this is the first time you're being a dad. You were a dad ten years ago; you just didn't know it so you didn't have the time to prepare yourself." There was a brief silence. "Go on… say it," Arizona teased him.

"You're right," he conceded.

"Ah, I love hearing those words."

"Well, thanks for your help, Dr. Robbins," he said as he stood up and headed for the door, but Arizona stopped him.

"Hey, hey, where do you think you're going? We're not done yet, sit down, Stark," she pointed at a chair. He knew better than to argue with Arizona Robbins. He took a seat. "So, April Kepner…"

"Oh, no, that we are not talking about."

"Come on!"

"Can't I keep just one part of my private life, private?"

"Uh, after that little kiss last night? No. The whole hospital's been talking about it. So, what are you gonna do?" She said as she took a bite of her muffin.

"You'll see," he said standing up and headed for the door.

"You're a different man- a changed man," she said as she pressed her hands on her heart and smiled.

"Whatever you say, Robbins," he waved her off as he left her office. Much to his surprise, he saw April walking from the other direction. He stopped her and let his impulse do the talking. "Friday night at eight; I'll pick you up." He smiled and kept walking.

April couldn't help but check him out as he walked away. She liked that look on him, the casual look. It makes him just a regular guy. This day couldn't get any better, she thought. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she giggled. She bit her lip as she smiled, she was clearly delighted. With that, she continued to walk and looked at her papers, but couldn't get the smile off her face.

That night, Melanie dropped Grace off at his place and Robert unwillingly rented the Justin Bieber DVD. The hell with it, he thought. It was worth the shot. She looked at it in disgust. "No offense Dr. Stark, but do I look like I'd want to watch this garbage?"

He looked at her in amazement, "oh thank God! Well, I don't have much for you to do here, I mean there's the TV, but make yourself feel at home." He wanted to go back to his office, but stopped himself. "Hey, do you want to get something to eat?"

She looked at him, "yeah, sure."

At the restaurant, Robert used the time to get to know Grace and vice versa. They talked about their likes and dislikes. When she talked, he'd look at her eyes, her green eyes. He was just fascinated by her. She briefly mentioned that she wanted to be a doctor just her like her mom and work with children. "It's in the genes," he said. "I guess so," she replied not knowing what he really meant.

A moment later a man approached their table. "I'm sorry interrupting, but is she your daughter; because she's really pretty."

"Oh, she's -" Grace cut him off. "Yes, I am, and thank you." Robert nearly spit out his drink. The man briefly introduced himself as a photographer from a children's modeling agency. When he left Grace turned to Robert, "I'm sorry, I just said I was your daughter because I don't think you'd want people knowing that a man like yourself is babysitting on a Tuesday night," she explained.

Robert snickered, "oh, well thank you."

"By the way, thanks for letting me stay over your house, Dr. Stark. That's really cool of you."

He smiled and said "it's no problem, no problem at all." They had a lovely dinner and when they got home she went straight to the couch and watched TV until she fell asleep. Robert happily carried her over to the guest bedroom and tucked her in. He looked at her for a while and thought how wonderful she is, how wonderful his daughter is.


End file.
